Digital Contact Tracing Applications against COVID-19: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered public anxiety around the world. So far, the evidence suggests that prevention on a public scale is the most effective health measure for thwarting the progress of COVID-19. Another critical aspect of preventing COVID-19 is contact tracing. Objective We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of contact tracing applications currently available in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We undertook a systematic review and narrative synthesis of all literature relating to contact tracing applications in the context of COVID-19. We searched 3 major scientific databases. Only articles that were published in English and were available as full-text articles were selected for review. Data were extracted and narrative syntheses conducted. Results Five studies relating to COVID-19 were included in the review. Our results suggest that digitalized contact tracing methods can be beneficial for impeding the progress of COVID-19. Three key themes were generated from this systematic review. First, the critical mass of application adoption must be attained at the population level before the sensitivity and positive predictive value of the solution can be increased. Second, usability factors such as access, ease of use and the elimination of barriers are essential in driving this uptake. Third, privacy must be ensured where possible as it is the single most significant barrier against achieving critical mass. Conclusion Contact tracing methods have proved to be beneficial for impeding the progress of COVID-19 as compared to older, more labor intensive manual methods

The German COVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing App: A Socioeconomic Evaluation

“…While manual contact tracing is considered an established response to infectious disease outbreaks [ 55 , 56 ], DCT apps were first developed in response to COVID-19 and have been studied extensively since then [ 57 ]. From the earliest stages, issues of privacy, security, and ethics were raised [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ], with doubts about privacy identified as the biggest barrier to widespread use of such solutions [ 60 ]. Numerous studies investigated potentially promising DCT approaches from technical perspectives, including the currently mainly applied Bluetooth-based method [ 2 , 66 ] but also proximity tracing based on GPS [ 67 ], ultrasound [ 68 , 69 ], facial recognition approaches [ 61 ], blockchain-based approaches [ 70 ], or QR code scanning technology [ 71 ].…”

Ten Years of TeleHealth and Digital Healthcare: Where Are We?

“…In addition to the consolidated applications in this sector, new ones have been activated. An application that has exponentially developed in this period has been digital contact tracing for control, monitoring, and epidemic alerting through mobile apps and mHealth solutions [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. TH and DH have also been integrated in the use of artificial AI tools in the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19.…”